Grassroots Women Respond to HIV/AIDS Through the Formation of Home-Based Care Alliances

The Huairou Commission’s thematic work on HIV/AIDS bridges the gap between what is happening in communities and what happens at the policy level by ensuring that grassroots women leading the fight against HIV/AIDS in their communities are represented in decision-making spaces.

The Home-Based Care Alliance is a movement of home-based caregivers organizing for recognition and self-representation — at the local, national and international levels — of the essential services, care and resources they provide their communities. The Alliance, organized by GROOTS International, forms the central grassroots constituency of Huairou’s HIV/AIDS work, and our advocacy priorities emerge from its members. The Alliance builds women leaders’ capacity by sharing experiences, strategies and techniques with policy-makers, providing them with current data and community priorities related to HIV/AIDS. The Alliance has also claimed leadership spaces to advocate for transparency and accountability in HIV/AIDS programming so that resources and services for HIV/AIDS can be monitored and evaluated.